There are various types of decorative articles and articles manufactured with a decorative veneer, such as bottles, bowls, decanters, lamp shades, vases, including various consumable articles having a decorative pattern, such as candles, soap, confections, deodorants, and air fresheners. Lundbom (U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,677) discloses a decorative candle comprising an inner wax core and an outer wall made of a wax having a higher melting point than the wax core, with stones embedded in the outer wax wall for decorative purposes. Chang (U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,552) discloses a decorative candle comprising a lower melting wax core and an outer shell having wax flowers embedded therein. Bryant (U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,711) discloses a composite reusable decorative candle in the form of a clear, unpigmented core and a decorative surface. A glass cup is provided to prevent transfer of sufficient heat to the main body of the candle and decorative surface ornamentation. A new candle may be placed within the glass cup. Upon burning, light is transmitted from the candle to produce a glowing or luminescent effect. German Patent No. 2 051 312 discloses a method of producing wax candles employing an extruder wherein an external colored pattern is worked into the outer layer of the molded body. Rosselli (U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,635) discloses a method for automatically stamping designs onto candles under computer control.
Decorative disks or slabs have previously been produced by combining a plurality of elongated rods into a composite article and cutting decorative disks or slabs from the composite article. The decorative disks can be employed for floor coverings, wall coverings and mosaics as disclosed in Sch ulz (U.S. Pat. No. 1,307,886), buttons as disclosed in Bailey (U.S. Pat. No. 1,994,164), Wilson (U.S. Pat. No. 1,477,094) and Nakamura (Japanese Patent No. 58-84732), or other plastic decorative articles disclosed as in U.K. Patent No. 707,014. The use of an extruder for forming varied colored plastics is disclosed by Wilson (U.S. Pat. No. 1,477,094) and Delorme, (U.S. Pat. No. 2,174,779). Japanese Patent No. 60-15116 discloses the direct extrusion of a pigmented plastic after melting and kneading. The solidification of wax into an arbitrary pattern or design by pouring melted wax onto the surface of cool water with subsequent rolling to form a lamp shade is disclosed by Waddill (U.S. Pat. No. 3,894,136).
An innovation in decorative candles, commonly referred to as the "glowing candle" is manufactured and sold by Magma Industries (ILUM) Ltd., Petach Tikva, Israel and The Glowing Candle Factory, Inc., San Diego, Calif. The typical glowing candle comprises a decorative wax veneer and a clear wax core containing a wick. Light generated by the burning wick passes through the clear wax core and then through the decorative pattern of the veneer. The glowing candle derives its name from the luminescent or glowing visual impact generated by the illumination cast by the burning wick through the decorative veneer. Illumination enhances the decorative pattern with an aura of brilliance thereby rendering the glowing decorative pattern visually distinct from the unilluminated or non-glowing decorative pattern.
It has been known to produce various types of consumable articles, such as soap, with a decorative pattern throughout. See, for example, Lewis (U.S. Pat. No. 4,092,388) wherein a method for manufacturing variegated soap bars is disclosed, which method comprises feeding noodles into a plodder through an opening communicating essentially only with a portion of the worm of the plodder. The resulting bars are cut and then stamped. There are also various methods of making multicolored detergent bars, such as soap bars, by extrusion. See, for example, Alderson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,745), Finkensiep et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 4,094,946), Perla (U.S. Pat. No. 3,923,438), European Patent No. 0254-656-A and Japanese Patent No. 57-70200.
One of the drawbacks of conventional decorative articles, including consumable soap bars and decorative articles having a decorative veneer, particularly a decorative wax veneer, such as the glowing candle, is the inability to produce the decorative pattern with high resolution, so that fine details of the decorative pattern are visible to the human eye. Conventional techniques are also incapable of producing a decorative pattern from a plurality of extruded, colored, rods with an intricate design having fine details. In addition, it is also difficult if not impossible to accurately determine, in advance, the location of a particular portion or area of a decorative pattern with respect to the perimeter or frame of the complete decorative pattern. These problems and shortcomings stem, in part, from the inherent limitations of the conventional manner in which decorative patterns, particularly decorative wax patterns, are produced and the inherent distortion encountered when processing at softening temperatures.
The conventional glowing candle is made by a rather long and unrefined process. Initially, a wax, such as a fully refined paraffin wax, is blended with a colored pigment and, optionally, a dispersant, at a temperature of approximately 80.degree. C. at a high rpm, such as 20,000 rpm. The molten blended wax is then poured onto the surface of cool water whereby solidified plates of wax are formed which float on the surface of the water. The resulting plates are typically about 10-60 centimeters in width, about 40-120 centimeters in length, and about 0.5-3 centimeters in thickness. The wax plates, each having a distinct color, are then heat treated in an oven maintained at a temperature of about 40.degree. to 45.degree. C. by circulating hot air for about 4 to 8 hours in order to render them flexible. A plurality of heated flexible wax sheets are then stacked upon one another and rolled, the color and number of wax sheets depending upon a desired decorative pattern. For example, in preparing a veneer similar to that employed to manufacture the glowing candle depicted in FIG. 1 having a simple flower pattern, a plurality of sheets are selected so that when rolled a generally cylindrical rod is obtained, as shown in FIG. 2, having an inner core 20 of a particular color, such as red, an intermediate layer 21 of, for example, yellow, and an outer annular portion 22 of, for example, white. The diameter of the rolled cylindrical wax rod is about 20 centimeters.
The rolled cylindrical wax rod is then extruded, as in a conventional-type extruder, by forcing it through a heated chamber having a circular dye head or orifice with a piston. The resulting first extruded wax rod is immediately dropped into water to be cooled. The first extruded wax rod has essentially the same cross-sectional shape as the unextruded composite wax rod with a considerably narrower diameter, e.g. about as 7 centimeters, and a greater length, e.g. about 160 centimeters. A typical cross-section of the first extruded wax rod, therefore, is similar to that depicted in FIG. 2 and serves as the center portion of a flower pattern.
Composite structures which ultimately serve as flower petals to be positioned about the center of the flower are then produced. For example, a plurality of heated flexible wax sheets having appropriately selected colors are stacked and formed into a U-shaped configuration as shown in FIG. 3, wherein sheets 31 through 33 may be similar or different in color depending upon the selected colors of the flower pattern. A plurality of such composite U-shaped wax sheets are then extruded to form second extruded composite rods which are immediately cooled in water to avoid memory shrinkage.
A first extruded wax rod and a plurality of second extruded wax rods are then assembled in a manner to resemble a flower pattern, as shown in FIG. 4. The center portion 41 corresponds to the first extruded wax rod formed by extruding the composite shown in FIG. 2, while the petals 42 correspond to the second extruded wax rods formed by extruding the U-shaped composite shown in FIG. 3. An outer wrapping 43 comprising a wax sheet is wound about the assembled extruded wax rods to prevent movement. The assembly is heated in an oven and extruded through a circular orifice to form a third composite extruded wax rod containing a decorative pattern resembling a single flower throughout its entire length. A plurality of such third composite extruded wax rods depicting a single flower, each having a diameter of about 3 centimeters, are then arranged in a circular pattern and extruded to form a fourth extruded composite wax rod having a diameter of about 3.75 to 4 centimeters. Extrusion is carried out in a conventional extruder, such as that shown in FIG. 5A. A plurality of decorative veneer sections are then sliced from an end of the fourth composite wax rod, each having a thickness of about 0.25 centimeters.
In manufacturing a glowing candle such as that shown in FIG. 1, a clear wax core having a desired shape, such as circular, cylindrical or hexagonal, is formed. The wax core and a plurality of decorative veneer sections are heated with hot air to effect softening. The decorative wax veneer sections are then applied to the outer surface of the clear wax core. The resulting composite is placed in a mold and subjected to pressure for complete bonding and shaping. Subsequently, an axial hole is drilled in the clear wax core and a wick provided. The candle is then subjected to finishing operations, such as polishing and dipping in a molten bath of a clear wax.
Normally, the wax employed for both the decorative veneer and core is a fully refined paraffin wax. However, the melting or softening point of the wax employed for the core of a glowing candle is normally lower than the melting or softening point of the wax employed for the decorative veneer so that, upon consumption of the wick, the decorative wax veneer remains intact and can be reused or employed as a decorative ornament.
The disadvantages of the above-discussed conventional glowing candle and method of manufacturing thereof are several. One of the most troublesome drawbacks of articles having a decorative pattern defined by a plurality of colored rods, particularly the conventional glowing candle, is the inability to achieve high resolution decorative patterns, or accurate reproducibility. Not only is it difficult to achieve decorative patterns which exhibit high resolution, the conventional practice is limited in its inability to produce intricate decorative pattern having fine details. Another drawback of conventional practices is the inability to preplan the proximity of a particular area of a decorative pattern with respect to the perimeter of the decorative pattern or frame. In conventional practices, the decorative pattern was subject to shifting during extrusion and could not be controlled.
There are several factors which contribute to the poor resolution and poor reproducibility of conventional decorative wax veneers. A significant factor is that the selection of different colored rods is made in response to observing the entire decorative pattern and, therefore, subject to the inherent limitations of the human eye, which confine the decorative patterns to relatively simple, nonintricate designs. In addition, after extensive investigations, I found that the use of a conventional circular dye head rendered it extremely difficult to control the accuracy of the decorative pattern. I discovered that when employing a circular dye head, the heated rods underwent swirling when squeezed together thereby generating a corkscrew-like effect distorting the decorative pattern as the composite comprising a plurality of rods exited the extrusion dye head.
Another disturbing drawback of conventional manufacturing techniques is that the visual impact of the final decorative pattern of the candle, when glowing, could not be accurately predicted, because the glowing visual impact is quite different from the non-glowing visual impact of the decorative pattern. Since it was not possible to determine the appearance of the glowing decorative pattern prior to manufacturing the final product, conventional manufacturing practices offered no opportunity to modify, adjust or fine tune the decorative pattern during manufacturing to provide a desired, predictable glowing visual impact. Conventional practices also required time consuming manipulative steps, solidifying wax sheets, rolling the wax sheets, and wrapping wax rods.